In Sloane’s book he tells the story of how at one point (think early 1900s), most retailers had a counter at the very front of the store. Customers walked in the front door and were met quickly by staff behind the counter. All the merchandise was kept behind the counter and customers told the staff what items they would like. These items were retrieved by the clerk. But one shop owner had an idea: what if the counter was in the back and all the merchandise was available to allow the customers to select their own items? Thus was created the modern retail experience, paving the way for how we shop today.

The question to you:  What can we do to “flip the store,” metaphorically speaking?

While the core of what we do is strong, there’s nothing preventing us from reinventing the way we “do business.”  Our approaches, our technologies, our processes, our programs, and how we think about what we do are all fair game for innovation and improvements.  Perhaps this is simply a bias from where I sit, but it seems we are missing opportunities by focusing on best practices instead of “next practices.”  We owe it to ourselves and to our students to think more broadly about how we function.

So, I’m on the lookout.  How can we draw more influence from unusual sources?  What have you seen other service industries or sectors doing that inspire you?  I’d love to hear from you on this.

Cross posted on Service Design Thinking, Marketing and Innovation

Gary Alan Miller is the Assistant Director for Social Media and Innovation at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

First, my theory on why Pinterest gained traction. I believe the visual nature of the site appeals to us for the same reason that photo sharing is such a primary activity in the social space. So, in this way, it shares the same traction that, say, Instagram does. Initially, it also tapped into an interest area and a target market (females predominately), and it “solved a problem,” in a way that many social media platforms don’t do. Many social media platforms fail to gain a core audience beyond the typical techie/early adopter set. Pinterest gave itself a leg up by avoiding that trap.

Now that it does have that traction, it’s being leveraged by others beyond that initial audience. Brands from General Electric (fairly thin page) to Whole Foods (much more robust) are experimenting.  In the higher education space, University of Pennsylvania’s Career Services (and the great work of Shannon Kelly) is setting a standard with their page.  Others like Skidmore College’s D-Hall and University of Minnesota’s Student Union, along with many others, are dabbling.  It will be interesting to see where other student affairs pros take it.

So, to my original question:  is it a passing fad or here to stay?  Obviously, we don’t know the full answer yet.  But, my feeling is that it has taken root, and fills a gap and thus will be with us at least for a little while.  It’s a fun site, and while it will probably continue to be a primary place for individuals to share, it will be interesting to watch brands continue to experiment and develop their space on the site.

What do you think about Pinterest for student affairs departments?

Cross posted on Service Design Thinking, Marketing and Innovation in Student Affairs

Gary Alan Miller is the Assistant Director for Social Media and Innovation at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

I’m starting to see that “next wave” of students, who absolutely meant to come see me earlier in the semester. But, like me, they’re just now waking from their winter stupor, as well. The good news is that this year internship postings have held strong. Perhaps the employers are waking from a winter stupor of their own.

Before we all know it, we’ll wake up and the semester will be over. It will be summer. Beautiful, hot, empty-campus summer. It does get a bit lonely. But, for career services, it’s summer, not spring, that is the time of renewal, of planning, of strategy. I’m looking forward to that this year.

But, for now, I’d better focus on what’s left of spring before it’s too late!

The theme of the conference was Advocating for Your Clients, Yourself and the Profession.  So, building off of the “advocating for the profession” idea, I came up with the idea to have a session in which participants undertake a brainstorming session about why they serve as career counselors.  Then, after categorizing the brainstorming session, each member would write a script and record a video of themselves attesting as to their motivations and passions as a counselor.  Each script would begin with the phrase “I am a career counselor because…”

In addition to providing a space to be reflective on their careers, along the way the participants would also learn how to use the 12seconds.tv platform.

Although our attendance was somewhat low (which I chalk up to the fact that our session was the final session on the final day of the conference, and there was an hour break prior to the start of our session — recipe for early departure!), we had a really spirited conversation and developed a really neat video library, which you can see on this 12seconds page.

It is my hope that others will contribute on an ongoing basis. So, if any career counselors out there read this post and are interested in adding your own 12 second video, please send me a note or leave a comment here and I’ll speak with you about how you can be added to the site.

A portion of our staff were interacting with our Student Ambassadors, and we were giving them our bios and info about what we do in the office. I went through my normal intro of education and professional background. I outlined my primary responsibility of internships. I noted a secondary item of social media utilization. Then, out of nowhere, my mouth says, “as the new guy, I also take it upon myself to be entirely willing to fail. So, I’m the one doing these new events that go down in a blaze of glory.”

I’m not sure why I chose to say that. Partially it was a self-deprecating moment, as I am wont to do. Partially it was meant as a lighthearted moment. But, there was a kernel of truth in there.

Although I don’t mean to imply I’m never disappointed when things don’t work out, I do find it exhilarating to try new things. And with that must come the occasional failure.

Case in point, last fall my office held a “Career Week” of events. Having interacted with the RoadTrip Nation folks via Twitter, I thought inviting them to campus for a screening would be a great end to that week.  I convinced my colleagues. We rolled out the red carpet, did a bunch of marketing and booked a 300 seat auditorium in the Union.

One student showed up.

That’s right, one.

Now I was entirely embarrassed that it occurred, and I found myself compelled to repeatedly apologize to the RTN folks, who (to their credit) didn’t seem phased at all. But, in truth, I’m still very glad we tried it.  Although it didn’t even come close to being a “success,” I am still driven to try new things and experiment and give my best shot to things that aren’t guaranteed to succeed.

I’m fortunate to have a supervisor and director who were also happy with the experimentation and not disappointed with the response (or if they were, they hid it very well), and that’s part of how I know I’m in the right place. I’m glad I work with people who encourage new attempts and activities.

Will we repeat the same event in the same way? Of course not. But, we attempted, we failed, we learned, we grew. And isn’t that what education is really all about?  It’s been attributed to many over the years.  But, it deserved repeat here:  If you’re not failing, you’re not trying hard enough.